Why Texans' Secondary Will Doom Houston's Super Bowl Hopes

The Houston Texans won't win a Super Bowl in 2012, thanks to an atrocious secondary.

The vaunted defense of the Texans has taken a turn for the worst as the team's secondary has given up 791 yards and 6 touchdowns the past two weeks.

Chad Henne threw for 354 yards and four touchdowns in Week 11, and then Matthew Stafford threw for 441 yards and 2 touchdowns in Week 12—both needed overtime to pad their stats a bit, but still.

This isn't the first time we've seen this unit get torched, either.

Peyton Manning and the Denver Broncos put up 330 yards and two touchdowns against this secondary back in Week 3, but Matt Schaub rescued the Texans by putting up 291 yards and four touchdowns. The Texans ended up winning that game by a score of 31-25.

Aaron Rodgers and the Green Bay Packers put on a clinic against the Texans back in Week 6. Rodgers threw for 338 yards with six touchdowns and zero interceptions, and the Packers won the game handily, 42-24.

With these two games as a backdrop, it's impossible to discount the way Chad Henne ripped this secondary in Week 11—especially after witnessing the same thing one week later against the Detroit Lions.

The biggest concern I have regarding the Texans secondary isn't the amount of yards it gives up—it's the touchdowns.

Through 11 games, the Texans have allowed an astonishing 19 touchdown passes—far too many to be considered a Super Bowl favorite.

Even worse is the fact that the Texans have gotten exposed of late. It would be one thing if this team was giving up a ton of points early in the year, but it's quite another to see this secondary regressing before our eyes in the second half of the season.

The Texans haven't faced many teams that can stop their offense, but once the postseason rolls around, most teams will feature a strong defense that has the ability to shut down the run and pressure Matt Schaub.

This puts even more pressure on the team's secondary to play well—something it hasn't proven it can do against potent offenses.

Unless the Texans figure out how to fix what's broken, this team will not go deep in the playoffs in 2012, let alone win Super Bowl XLVII.